Edwin: It's All To Play For

Sir Alex Ferguson recently described Edwin van der Sar as “the best goalkeeper in the league”. Based on the Dutchman’s impact since returning from a three-month spell on the sidelines, it’s difficult to disagree. Edwin, naturally, is playing it cool…

How does it feel to be back playing again after your lay-off?
It feels really good. It’s been a stop-start season for me which has been frustrating. During pre-season in Germany [the Audi Cup with Bayern Munich, Boca Juniors and Milan] I broke my finger, which cost me two months. Then I came back for a few weeks and picked up a knee injury after the Everton game in November. The problem lingered longer than I expected. It was disappointing because I’m not used to being out of action and not being able to play. You miss your weekly routine of training and games. But it feels great to be back in the swing of things and playing for United again.

Sir Alex says you’re the best in the league – it must be nice to come back into the side and hear a compliment like that?
Well… I think every manager speaks highly of his players, and I’m sure other managers say the same about their own goalkeepers. But I know that I get good recognition here at United – from the players and the manager. It’s always good to hear that you have the support and trust of the people you work with. It’s good to know I have that here.

Have you been surprised at how well the team have done, considering the injuries United have had this season?
We’re right up there with Chelsea. The last three months of the season are shaping up to be very interesting. It’s all to play for. There are a lot of big games in a short period, with the Champions League also starting up again soon. Luckily, we have most of our players back. We’re still missing three or four, but it’s better than the 11 or 12 that were missing earlier in the season and over the Christmas break.

It’s been very much a collective effort to now be in such a strong position…
It has. And I’d like to go on record as saying what a good job Tomasz [Kuszczak] did over the last couple of months. With so many injuries in defence, it wasn’t easy for him to come in and perform so well under pressure. He played really well in a difficult situation.

What did the wins over City and Arsenal do for morale and the team's momentum?
They were both really important results, and now we want to build on them. I haven’t played in many Carling Cup games for United, apart from when I first came here. This season I’ve been injured and probably wouldn’t have been selected in the games anyway. But it was nice to be involved in the competition, especially a semi-final. Against City, that makes it more exciting, especially as they’ve become stronger with the financial backing they have. They came and had a real go, but we won and reached the final. Everyone, the players and the fans, were delighted.

Having played City and Arsenal, and with Milan to come, how important is it not to overlook some of the other equally important games coming up?
It’s easy to look at the fixture list and pick out games against the big sides. But there are three points to win [for each game]. We’ve dropped points against teams that we would not expect to, and we have to cut that out. We need to have the same aggression, hunger and desire to win in any game as we would if it was a Champions League game, against Arsenal in the league or a cup match against City.